Daily Mail revenue rises on B2B growth

LONDON

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Daily Mail and General Trust PLC (DMGOa.L) reported increased first-quarter revenues thanks to continued growth at its business-to-business arm and kept its outlook for the year unchanged.

The company said its business-to-business division grew by 8 percent in the three months to end-December, outweighing a decline at DMG Media, home to national titles the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

MailOnline, the Daily Mail's companion website, achieved a record 127 million unique browsers in January 2013. It became the world's most visited online newspaper in 2012, according to web analytics firm comScore.

The media group, which also runs events and owns a 68 percent stake in business magazine publisher Euromoney, (ERM.L) said in a statement on Wednesday that overall trading in the quarter was in line with expectations.

Revenue for the first quarter was 503 million pounds, up 3 percent from the year-earlier period.

On Monday DMG increased the price of its weekday editions of the Daily Mail by 5 pence to 60 pence.

The group sold its regional titles for 52.5 million pounds in January, following years of falling advertising revenues and declining circulation.

Shares in the company rose 2.9 percent to 621 pence in early trade on Wednesday, their highest level since 2007.